


Mistakes

by them1ghtypen



Series: A Fire Still Burns: Anthology [3]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Existing IchiRuki, F/M, Previous IchiRuki, Songfic, big fight
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 11:37:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17021958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/them1ghtypen/pseuds/them1ghtypen
Summary: Ichigo and Rukia have always had a different type of relationship. Orihime has never understood them, and realizes too late that she is always going to be an outsider looking in. Listen to Adele's "Hello" while you read.





	Mistakes

**Author's Note:**

> Told from Orihime's perspective - an outsider looking in.

Her first taste of trouble sat sourly on the tip of her tongue when her eyes struck the blinking red light on the machine. Usually, there were no messages; Ichigo was the first home and answered them if there were any. But not today. He had a doctor’s appointment. She stared at the counter for a few more moments before she shook herself out of her frozen trance.

What could be so bad about a message left on the answering machine? She blew the thought from her mind as she did her bangs from her forehead. Orihime Inoue stepped to the counter, stiletto heels clicking on the hardwood. Her heavy purse clattered on the granite, and she pressed the play button as she busied herself filling a pot with water for tea. There was no immediate message, and it wasn’t until she lit the burner on the stove that a tentative voice threaded through the speaker.

“Ichigo? Hello? It’s uh…it’s me.”

Orihime dropped the keys she hadn’t known she’d still been holding. The sound shattered through her eardrums.

The person cleared their throat. “How are you? I hope… I hope you’re well. I suppose I should stop asking this by now, but do you want to meet somewhere?”

By now? What did that mean?

Her heart shook.

“I want to say this to your face, Ichigo. I want to say…” They sniffled. “I want to say I’m sorry. For everything. For all of it. I…” They trailed off, silent for a few seconds.

Orihime barely let loose a shaky breath.

“Dammit, Ichigo; what do you want me to do – beg? Well I won’t! I won’t do it and you know it! You know what? Forget it. Just forget it.”

For the longest while, there was no voice, just breathing. But Orihime couldn’t have moved even if she’d wanted to. Finally, the person spoke again – so softly Orihime barely heard what they said.

“I’ll call again. I know I’ve been calling every day for the past three months and you haven’t called back, but I won’t stop. I’ll talk to you – I’ll… _call_ you tomorrow. Bye, Ichigo.”

Her hands sought the table, bearing the majority of her weight. She didn’t even have to wonder to whom the voice on the machine belonged. Orihime knew who it was, and just hearing it sent a frenzy of emotion thumping out of her chest. It made her sad, reminiscent and wary. But most of all, it made her furious.

The voice belonged to none other than Rukia Kuchiki, the girl that had completely torn Ichigo apart. She had left him without a glance back, and now she had the gall to call him and want to meet?

Orihime’s lithe fingertips gripped the edge of the table. It didn’t matter that she had waited for two years until Ichigo had finally asked her out. She told herself her fear of losing him didn’t matter. If it had been three months and Ichigo had yet to answer, then everything was fine.

Never mind that she had officially moved in with him four months ago.

He wasn’t going back. She was sure.

00000

The footsteps entering the door were weary. Orihime knew Ichigo couldn’t see her car. She parked it in the garage, and had told him earlier that she had a migraine and would be upstairs in the bedroom with the TV on. She just wanted to make sure her doubt was unfounded. So she remained silent, unseen.

He stood there, shoulders hunched, eyes staring at the little black machine. Yet she knew when his eyes fully reached it – his back snapped straight, and he swallowed difficultly. The blinking red light flashed ominously, and slowly, he reached out and touched the playback button.

An icy vein beat through her heart, and Orihime clenched her fingertips on her soft green blouse.

The message played through once more, and Orihime fought the urge to cover her ears against the sound of Rukia’s husky, tear-filled voice. She would _not_ feel sorry for her.

She exhaled silently and tuned in to the last part of the message.

“I’ll call you tomorrow. Bye, Ichigo.”

There was really no earthly reason why Orihime had to spy on her boyfriend of nine months, but she needed to _know_. She needed to be _sure_. And something in her gut said that Ichigo wouldn’t be straight with her when it came to the black-haired witch.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn’t hear Ichigo whisper as a finger stroked the side of the answering machine.

“You’d better.”

With those two words, Orihime suddenly knew what it was to feel her hopes and dreams shatter at her feet.

00000

Three more months of Rukia leaving messages, and Orihime was near bursting. Not once had Ichigo spoken to her about it. She felt the distance between them as if it were a physical separation.

If she were honest with herself – and at this moment she chose not to be – Orihime knew that Ichigo had been distant even before the calls – since she’d first moved in with him. But admittance was miles from passing her lips.

Every night she could, unbeknownst to him, Orihime would watch him listen to Rukia’s messages. She wanted to confront him, but in those moments her splintered world would only allow her the pain of his betrayal. It sealed her lips, froze her heart, and even she could feel herself draw away from the one she had once held so high.

00000

Perhaps it was the content of this message that finally unglued her lips from each other. Perhaps it was the point of no return for the threshold of Orihime’s silence.

“I’m so sorry for what I said, but maybe you don’t want to hear my apologies. At least I can say that I tried. So…this message is the last one, Ichigo. I can’t do this anymore. There’s only so long that I can say sorry before I have to attempt to move on. If you’ve been listening to any of these, meet me at Sambalatte on the corner of Soul and Society Drive. Nine o’clock Saturday. If you’ve been listening to these messages but…don’t want to show, I won’t be upset, Ichigo. I understand. This time, I won’t say goodbye.”

Whichever reason it happened to be, Orihime finally spoke.

“Why haven’t you told me?” It wasn’t what she’d really wanted to say, but it was good enough.

To her surprise and utter expectation, Ichigo didn’t even flinch. He turned around slowly. “I knew you would find out someday.” His eyes still stayed away from hers. “How long have you known?”

She pursed her lips. “Three months after she started calling.” She pursed her lips. “Why didn’t you tell me?” she pressed.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I was there. I saw her insult you. She broke your heart, Ichigo, and I know you’ve been listening to all of these.” Her voice was embittered, and she could see the start in his eyes. No one, not even she, knew her throat could make that sound.

“We were both insulting each other, Orihime. I said some things about her and her brother, and I knew better.”

“She said things about your character and your family,” she countered acerbically.

“She did, and she crossed the line worse than I did. But I started it. We’re both at fault.” He finally turned fully to face her. “You wouldn’t understand, Orihime. We’ve always been…different. In sync and yet dissonant, if you will. It’s…complicated.”

Orihime stared at him, and for the first time, she believed that she truly saw Ichigo. She saw the broken heart in his slumped shoulders and shaking hands; yet hope shone dully through his eyes. Jealousy suddenly took possession of her limbs – in all the years she’d known him, she’d not ignited even that modicum of hope in his face.

“You want her back.”

Ichigo sighed. He ran a hand through his hair. “Yes. This fight was so bad I had to… Sometimes she…” He cleared his throat and the pale flush that crept in his cheeks raised her ire once more. “You don’t want to hear about that. But I had to make sure she really meant it.”

“You just let her win.” Orihime exhaled sharply.

Slowly, Ichigo shook his head. “No, I made myself stay away. But… she had to tell me where to meet her. We both needed time to recover from what the other said, but… Can’t you see, Orihime? She’s the other part of me. I _can’t_ stay away from her.”

“What about these two years, Ichigo? Your relationship has always been…rocky.”

“We both stepped out of line, and I egged her on, but neither one of us should have said what we did. Hers was…worse, I’ll admit that; so I wanted her to apologize first and really mean it. I won’t let her walk all over me, and she won’t let me do that to her… But we each need to learn to own up to the things we’ve done wrong, don’t we? The fact that she’s been calling me every day for six months…”

She hated the way his voice hitched.

“It means that she’s serious. When Rukia decides to do something and to do it right, she does it with everything she has. Time was the only way to tell if this was the real deal. And I think it is.”

His lips quirked slightly, and Orihime realized that throughout these past few months, she now hated more things about him than she liked.

Ichigo’s eyes penetrated her, sorrowful and knowing. “You’re the one that asked me out, Orihime.”

“You could’ve said no.” Her voice was steely, but his expression didn’t change. It angered her. “You could’ve said no to me moving in!”

“You wouldn’t have accepted it.”

Her chest thumped. “Yes, I would have.” But she knew it was a lie. "You still  _could've said no_."

“I didn’t mean for this to happen.” He sighed dejectedly and ran a hand down his face. Her hurt and anger swirled together.

There was a large part of her that desperately didn’t want to know the answer, but the other part couldn’t breathe, couldn’t function without it.

“Then what was I? Did I mean nothing to you?”

“You weren’t nothing, Orihime.” At this statement, he looked her straight in the eye. “But you could never be her.”

She hadn’t thought it possible, but everything shattered once more.

00000

Torture could be considered a relative term, and in Orihime’s case, the meaning was relative. Why she would torture herself to see Ichigo again after he had caused her views of the world to crash not once, but twice, remained a mystery even to her.

Yet here she sat in a corner booth, sipping chai with her auburn hair covered by a beanie and her eyes covered with aviators.

Rukia sat alone, nursing a giant cup of coffee. Her eyes were red and puffy, her face pale – but then Orihime had always thought she’d looked pale. Rukia’s pitch black hair was in a messy pony tail. She pulled out a tissue, dabbing at her eyes and sniffling, taking a sip of coffee to cover it.

Orihime was under no illusions that Ichigo would come back to her. After that discussion, she had called a few friends the next day, packed up her things and left. There was nothing there for her anymore, and she was glad she’d had that strange impulse to downsize before she’d moved in with Ichigo. She only had a few things to carry, and it made everything a lot less awkward.

She didn’t even think she’d spoken to Ichigo since he’d told her she would never be Rukia. He was right, of course. They were two completely different people, in looks and in temperament, but she had to see. Even if it could be considered a type of torture, something in her _had_ to see.

Once more Rukia checked her phone, and upon reading the screen, her body visibly crumbled. This time, she didn’t seem ashamed to cover her eyes with both of her hands. Her tiny shoulders hunched. A waiter looked puzzled, but left her alone.

“Rukia.”

Orihime had been so focused on the dark-haired girl she hadn’t even seen Ichigo come in.

Her body froze, and ever so slowly, her hands drifted from her face. Her purple eyes were wide, as if she couldn’t believe he was really here.

“You’re… You’re here.”

“Yeah.”

“Oh, God. You came.” She sagged in her seat. “You came. I…didn’t think you would.”

Tears flowed silently from her already red eyes.

Ichigo sat down slowly, looking uncomfortable. But the sincerity in his voice was unmistakable, even from where Orihime was sitting.

“Always. I’ll always come.”

Rukia sniffled, then practically launched her small body across the table to wrap Ichigo in a fierce hug. Orihime was just close enough to hear them whisper to each other:

“Hello.”

“Hey.”

Orihime gently set her cup of chai down. She’d always been the one to follow in Ichigo’s wake, to be behind him and put his happiness first. When he first dated Rukia, she’d been heartbroken, but had relentlessly told herself he would see her eventually. Her determination would not go unnoticed.

Ever since she’d heard that message on the machine, despite what Ichigo had said to her before, she had thought that she lost him to this woman that, simply put, was everything she wasn’t.

Yet as she stared at them locked in a relentless embrace, she finally realized that she’d never even remotely had him in the first place.

FIN

**Author's Note:**

> This just popped into my brain. So I wrote it down in one night.
> 
> I don’t really hate Orihime, but she does get on my nerves. But this piece symbolizes situations where people you thought were friends were not. It’s shocking and hurtful once you realize what’s been done to you and how you’ve been severely been taken advantage of. And perhaps – in this piece – Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship is strange and not very healthy, but it’s not completely about their relationship – merely how Orihime may view the both of them. But let’s face it – Rukia is the only one for Ichigo, and I do not acknowledge that Orihime ended up with Ichigo and Rukia with Renji. I deny it. Like the M. Night ATLA movie. It does not exist. There is no war in Ba Sing Se. 
> 
> Back to the story, yes Ichigo used Orihime, and he doesn’t really seem to feel remorse in this, does he? Well, to Orihime, Ichigo may not look remorseful, but he very well could be and she’s just not seeing that in her anger. That doesn’t mean he’s bad; but isn’t that just like life? Sometimes, you don’t get to know why someone did what they did – and sometimes they don’t even know why either. This story was to mirror life: it’s frustrations, let downs, unanswered questions and the fact that sometimes there’s nothing we can do but put it behind us and move on. And I hope I sort of made that connection with Orihime in the last part. She hasn’t completely moved on – not that quickly for sure – but she’s on the road of accepting what has happened, and to learn from it and move on.
> 
> So there you have it. Let me know what you thought of it.


End file.
